President Trump is five weeks into his second term, and he’s already off to a strong start in following through with his commitment to protect Americans’ Second Amendment rights. His executive orders directing the Department of Justice to put together a comprehensive pro-Second Amendment plan of action and ending the weaponization of the federal government are historic enough, but by making FBI Director Kash Patel the acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Trump can make even greater strides towards putting an end to federal law enforcement’s politicization against law-abiding Americans.
As both FBI director and acting ATF director, Patel has been presented with an historic opportunity to realign the ATF with its core mission: to go after criminals and protect the Second Amendment. Trump can cement his legacy as a hero to America’s 107 million gun owners by nominating an ATF director who understands and is equipped to execute this mission.
There is much work to be done. Under the Biden administration, the ATF was actively hostile to the interests of both firearms retailers and gunowners. Instead of implementing policies that defend the individual liberties of American citizens, bureaucrats in the ATF deployed arbitrary rule changes, red tape and deliberately vague enforcement standards to handicap the firearms industry and limit the rights of the people. Former President Joe Biden, like former President Barack Obama before him, used the ATF’s broad mandate to impose a gun control regime that circumvented Congress.
Among law enforcement agencies, the ATF is unique. It is responsible for both investigating violations of federal firearms law and for regulating the firearms industry as a whole. This dual regulatory and enforcement role means the ideal choice for permanent ATF director would be someone who respects the individual liberties enumerated in the Constitution and has a commitment to go after actual criminals.
In recent decades, ATF directors have either been drawn exclusively from the ranks of law enforcement – usually from the ATF itself – or previously served as public prosecutors. The results of limiting the selection pool have been mixed. There is no doubt law enforcement leadership plays an important role in protecting our rights. But our opponents’ primary weapon of choice is to impede or deny our constitutional rights through regulatory bureaucracy.
So, the agency needed a Second Amendment warrior, an ATF outsider who is experienced in fighting the ATF overreach, with a mastery of the complex regulatory and legal system to advocate for the Second Amendment rights of Americans.
Kash Patel is such a warrior, and will serve the agency well as acting director. As the president looks to name Patel’s permanent successor, we trust he will choose someone up to the tall task of reining in the ATF’s bureaucracy, which has run far afield of its law enforcement mandate.
The ATF has repeatedly subverted the democratic process, pushing the limits of their congressionally authorized authority via aggressive rulemaking. This has led to some calling for the agency to be abolished. We understand this sentiment, and the frustration with gross federal overreach from which it is born is not without merit. Unfortunately, the statutes suffocating our freedoms wouldn’t disappear with the ATF. Three letter agencies are like a hydra: cut the head off one, and another will grow back in its place.
There is reason to be optimistic for Patel and his eventual successor: recent success stories have proven that a productive relationship between the ATF and gun owners is indeed possible.
For example, the ATF currently regulates the buying and selling of firearm suppressors, devices that dampen the noise of a firearm. These essential hearing protection devices allow gun owners and hunters to exercise their Second Amendment rights without having to sacrifice one of their five senses. However, for decades the vast majority of gun owners were unable to obtain suppressors. The NFA transfer process was tedious, expensive and almost always delayed.
In 2024, the American Suppressor Association successfully worked with the ATF to help streamline the transfer process. The result? Wait times collapsed. Gun owners can now obtain a suppressor in a matter of hours or days, instead of months or years. This sort of productive dialogue between regulators and industry advocates should be the norm, not the exception. Any strong ATF director should understand this and make working with – instead of against – law-abiding gun owners a top priority for the agency.
Trump has a golden opportunity to fix the ATF and focus on protecting our constitutional rights while taking the real criminals off the street. Choosing Kash Patel was a phenomenal start; his permanent successor must harness that momentum.
Michael Williams is the general counsel of the American Suppressor Association and a former senior policy advisor for Second Amendment issues in the Trump administration. Jamin McCallum is the CEO of JJE Capital (Owner of Palmetto State Armory, Harrington and Richardson, and various other firearms-related companies).
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
